A chimney sweep's brush head: 19th century

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A chimney sweep's brush head. A Society for Superceding the Necessity of Climbing Boys was formed around 1800. It advocated the use of brushes to clean chimneys rather than young boys. A prolonged campaign to abolish the practice led finally to an act of Parliament in 1834, which raised the age of apprenticeship to 14 and provided some measure of regulation.